


How to be a Hufflepuff

by amemorymaze



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2013-11-10
Packaged: 2018-01-01 02:09:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1039070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amemorymaze/pseuds/amemorymaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Blaine tries to find himself and stumbles upon love along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to be a Hufflepuff

**Author's Note:**

> This is my contribution for the Klaine Big Bang and it took so long to write but I did it!! \o/  
> Thank you so so much to my beta, [Leia](http://www.savesoulandpunk.tumblr.com) and also [ Celine](http://www.sully-bean.tumblr.com) who's art is amazing and i love it so so much. It's literally exactly how I imagined it!! You should definitely check it out, [ here](http://sully-bean.tumblr.com/post/66595565904/here-is-my-contribution-to-the-klaine-big-bang)  
> I still can't believe I actually wrote this; but thank you for reading it, I hope you enjoyed it *u*

 

When Blaine first arrives at Hogwarts in wide-eyed wonder, he isn’t necessarily disappointed at the house he’s sorted into - whatever people may say Hufflepuffs are not boring nobodies - people just seem to forget about them because they aren’t always the most courageous, ambitious or intelligent students at Hogwarts. His parents aren’t disappointed either, not that he really expected them to be; they have always been supportive of him.

He thinks that maybe he just wants some indication that he doesn’t belong in Hufflepuff; that someone will ask him why. But no one does because it’s just Blaine who feels like he doesn’t really belong there; not along with Brittany and Sam as they sit in the warmth of the common room. But he doesn’t voice this to anyone over the years and accepts that he must have been put in this house for a reason. The sorting hat is never wrong, right?

Some nights, when Blaine just can’t get his body to shut down and drift into unconsciousness, he will lay awake underneath the covers, tracing the patterns the wood makes on the headboard of his four-poster bed and wonder why exactly he was put into this house with all the loving, the loyal and kind-hearted students. He will wonder what qualities it is that the Sorting Hat saw in his mind that made it choose this house.

 

 i. Dedication

 

It’s his fourth year - still finding secrets around the castle and Blaine has given up hope of ever being able to discover everything that the four founders hid around the castle, but Blaine will never get used to the awe he feels when he unveils another of the secrets.  When Blaine finds himself being asked to joins so many different clubs he just shrugs them off until he gets told, “Hufflepuffs are so dedicated to their clubs, how come you haven’t joined any?”

The truth is that Blaine never really thought to join anything and, honestly, there weren’t many that looked particularly interesting. But this year, he decided that he was going to find a club where he fit in.

A few weeks into the school year, Blaine finds himself being dragged along to the Quidditch try-outs by his best friend and fellow Hufflepuff, Sam Evans. Despite Blaine telling Sam that there is no way he will make the team and that he is completely useless at playing the sport, Blaine is still forced to attend. Really, every time he has braved sitting on the broomstick, he has ended up skidding through the grass; face first, or, in that one incident with his brother, through the mud. But he is still forced to go along as Sam pleads with him, “Please man. I need at least one person to support me.”

Unsurprisingly, Sam doesn’t actually need Blaine’s support because when they get there, geared up in their quidditch clothes, borrowed broomsticks slung over their shoulders there is already a bunch of girls sitting in the stands. They watch and squeal as Sam soars around the pitch on the broom whilst Blaine kind of goes in an upwards direction for a good few feet and then loses his balance and dramatically falls down and lands in the grass with a thump.

“Ouch,” Blaine says before unsteadily sitting up, but as he places a hand on his head he can already feel the beginnings of a bump forming so he groans and lies back down in the grass. Blaine can hear a few people crowding around him, speaking in whispers before he hears a soft thump by his head but he doesn’t bother opening his eyes to see who it is.

“Shit, dude. Are you okay?” Blaine hears Sam’s voice. All Blaine does is just gives him a thumbs up before groaning and sitting himself back up.

“I’ll be fine,” Blaine says, “I think I’m just going to go sit up there, on the stands. I’ll be okay.”

Sam looks worried as he gives Blaine a hand, helping him off of the ground and pats his back in a hug (Blaine swears he can hear those girls swooning over Sam’s cuteness from the stands) but it’s not Blaine’s fault his grip is slightly too hard and holds on for a tad too long; he did just hit his head pretty hard. Blaine stumbles back across the field after Sam gives him a quick nudge in the right direction. After putting his broom back with the pile of others that had been borrowed, Blaine clambers up the steps of the stands. He grips the railing tightly as he climbs; afraid of falling the down the stairs - he doesn’t think he can take two tumbles in one day.

He squeezes himself past the girls who are positively swooning and as Blaine looks down at the pitch, he sees that Sam has taken his shirt off. Honestly, Blaine can definitely see the appeal there and apparently so can the guy that Blaine has just sat down next to.

“Your friend has quite the set of abs,” the boy says, “But I think those girls are going to burst my eardrums if he loses any more items of clothing.”

Blaine doesn’t answer; he’s too distracted by the gorgeous boy sitting next to him who has the prettiest, sparkling blue eyes Blaine has ever seen.

He doesn’t know why he says it and he really shouldn’t have but Blaine blames the fact that he has a possible concussion as he says, “You’re really cute.”

A rosy blush covers the boy’s cheeks and gives Blaine a small smile, “Um, thanks?”

Blaine doesn’t reply, except for a quiet, “You’re welcome.” He looks back towards the quidditch pitch, watching the try-out with a feigned interest when all he can focus on is the boy next to him.

Eventually Blaine drops his head onto his knees, mumbling to himself. He starts when he feels a hand touching his back and jumps up quickly.

“Woah.”

All he can feel is his head spinning as he sways on the spot, white light blinding his eyes as he waits it out, hoping it will stop soon enough.

But it doesn’t.

Blaine can’t really remember much of the next few minutes. All he knows is that he somehow made it down from the stands and is now grabbing onto the person next to him with a death grip. When Blaine’s head finally clears enough for him to recognise where he is, he notices that he is walking across the grounds, leaning heavily against the body next to him.

“I think- “ Blaine says, “I think I hit my head harder that I thought.”

The boy laughs and Blaine notices that it isn’t a laugh that he recognises, but it is definitely one that he wants to hear more often. He must’ve voiced his opinion because he hears that laugh again.

“Is that your way of asking to be my friend?” The boy asks, “I don’t even know your name.”

Blaine stumbles slightly as they walk through the entrance hall and make their way towards the Hospital Wing.

“Woah, you okay?”

“Yup. I’m good. Perfect, actually,” Blaine replies, smiling up at the boy before leaning his head on his shoulder and humming to himself.

Blaine can feel the boy chuckle as he leads the way down the corridors and into the Hospital Wing. Blaine looks up and sees the boy looking down at him fondly, a small blush forming on his face before he clears his throat and tells Madame Pillsbury about Blaine’s probable concussion.

She tells the boy to navigate Blaine to a bed and once he’s sitting she’s shoos him away saying, “Kurt, I would appreciate it if you left whilst I sort Blaine out. You can wait outside if you would like, it shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes.”

Blaine recognises that name but since he can’t really think straight, Blaine doesn’t really dwell on it. However, he’s almost certain that it was Kurt Hummel, 5th Year Slytherin.

The reason Madame Pillsbury told Kurt to leave is not the only one for Kurt’s departure, Blaine guesses it’s probably more due to that fact that Madame Pillsbury doesn’t want Kurt to get germs all over her squeaky clean furniture. So Kurt turns and leaves the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

It’s barely ten minutes later when Blaine steps out of the doorway completely cured, hoping that Kurt will be there. But he isn’t. Blaine isn’t really that surprised he probably scared him away, what with some of the stuff he could have said. So instead, Blaine makes his way back to the quidditch pitch to find Sam ecstatic that he made the team - of course he would - and almost forgets about the cute boy. Almost.

 

*

 

After chatting to Mike Chang, a 5th Year Ravenclaw, Blaine is convinced to come to the duelling club. Blaine is a bit dubious about this, because he isn’t particularly fond of using his magic for violence. Mike tells him that it’s a rare occurrence for anyone to actually get hurt since they do it for fun not to seriously hurt someone.

So the next Thursday Blaine finds himself in the Great Hall after dinner, his wand out facing none other than Kurt.

He blushes as Kurt says, “No concussion this time then?”

“Shut up,” Blaine mumbles, ducking his head and averting his eyes. He wonders how exactly it is that he got paired up with Kurt when he catches Mike’s eye who is standing opposite his girlfriend, Tina Cohen-Chang. He gives Blaine a wink and nods towards Kurt which just makes Blaine blush and glare at him.

This is all Mike’s fault. Blaine’s just going to end up making a fool of himself in front of Kurt. Why did he have to tell him about the day of the quidditch try-outs?!

Kurt laughs at him “I don’t think I ever introduced myself,” he says, “I’m Kurt Hummel.”

“Blaine Devon Anderson.”

“Well, Blaine Devon Anderson, have you ever duelled before?”

 

*

 

In hindsight, Blaine probably should have told Kurt that he wasn’t particularly good at defensive spells, let alone offensive spells. But then again, how was Blaine supposed to know that he would end up giving Kurt a nosebleed instead of disarming him - It’s not like he meant to let go of his wand.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”

“’M fine,” Kurt mutters, “just lemme…” Blaine stands uselessly in front of Kurt, hands hovering over him, not knowing what to do, trying not to do any more damage than he already has. But Kurt picks his wand up from the ground and mutters a spell. The blood stops gushing from his nose almost instantly and Blaine sighs in relief.

“So,” Kurt says once he has checked that nothing is broken, “I have learnt two things about you, Blaine Anderson. Number one; don’t give you a broomstick as you will only end up injuring yourself. Number two; don’t duel against you because you are not only a liability to yourself, but apparently other people too.”

“I’m so sorry, Kurt!”

“No worries,” Kurt replies, grimacing at the stain on his robes. “This might take a while to get out though.”

“I’ll help you! It’s my fault! I’m so sorry. I don’t even know how I managed to do that!”

“Just, next time, try not to let go of your wand.”

 

*

 

Blaine leaves Gobstones club covered in a foul smelling liquid, defeated. He heads to the prefect bathroom hoping no one will be using it. He knows he probably shouldn’t use it but Mike had given him the password so why not.

The portrait opens and Blaine takes a step inside but almost turns right back out after he hears voices in the room. Blaine recognises both of those voices so he takes a chance and carries on going.

“Blaine!” He hears a girl say when he comes into view “You’re not a prefect.”

“I know, Rach,” he replies, seeing Rachel perched on the edge of the bathtub, toes dipped into the water, still fully clothed. “But I got absolutely thrashed at Gobstones Club and I really need to get this awful smell off of me.”

She takes a look at him before wrinkling her nose “Wow, okay. I give you permission to be in here.”

“He doesn’t need your permission, Rachel,” Kurt says, coming into view from behind a cubicle.

“Oh, Kurt! This is Blaine. Blaine this is Kurt,” Rachel says, introducing them.

Blaine laughs awkwardly “Um, thanks Rachel, but we’ve kind of already met.”

“Well, if you count Blaine being concussed the first time, and then him giving me a nosebleed the second time, then yeah, we have been acquainted.”

Rachel looks confused “What? You two met? How? When? How come I didn’t know about this?”

“Don’t worry about it, Rach,” Blaine says, taking a step forward, grimacing as he catches a whiff of the putrid smell coming off of his robes.

Kurt laughs at Blaine’s expression “What have you been doing now, Blaine Anderson?”

“Just playing Gobstones,” he shrugs, “Who knew I’d be so bad at it.”

Laughing still, Kurt takes out his wand and waves it at Blaine’s robes, cleaning them efficiently.

“Oh. Thanks!” Blaine says, thankful he can no longer smell whatever liquid it was that was covering him, “But I think I’m still going to need to clean my hair. I’m pretty sure some of it managed to get in there.”

Rachel squeals, “Oh, Blaine. Please let me wash your hair! Pretty please!”

“Uhh…” Blaine says, awkwardly before looking at Kurt who just shrugs, laughing silently “Okay?”

“You are so going to regret that,” Kurt says, as Rachel takes Blaine’s hand and drags him towards the tub.

Minutes later, Blaine could honestly say he was kind of enjoying himself here with Rachel massaging his scalp and Kurt sitting over by the mermaid portrait, looking as gorgeous as usual.

He laughs at Kurt’s comments about Hogwarts gossip - “Did you know that Quinn totally hooked up with Puck in the summer?”

Occasionally, he will just stare at Kurt with heart eyes whilst Rachel pours water over his head. Well, he does that until she mentions it.

“You like him.”

“W-What?” Blaine says, jerking away from the water.

“Come on, Blaine. You’re so obvious.” She says, shrugging, “I’m surprised he hasn’t noticed that you like him yet.”

“Wh- I don’t like him like that,” Blaine responds.

Rachel just gives him a look “Seriously, you’re both gay and available. It’ll do him good to have someone like you around. It would do you good.”

“Rachel,” Blaine begins, “Don’t. Please. I don’t want to start this. He doesn’t like me, don’t make me get my hopes up for nothing.”

Rachel drops the conversation after that and starts talking about her on and off boyfriend, Finn Hudson.

Kurt groans as she starts talking and closes the book he has been reading “If you’re going to gush about how cute my step-brother is again, Rachel, I’m out. I think I’m gonna head back to the common room. See you around, Blaine,” he says, giving Blaine a wave and flicking some water at Rachel as he walks past, smirking.

Blaine sighs as Kurt leaves the room “Not a word, Rachel.”

She stifles a giggle before carrying on talking about Finn.

 

*

 

A few weeks later, Brittany drags Blaine along to the chess club. At first, he was kind of surprised at her request of him to join her, but he accepted the invitation, knowing that he wasn’t all that bad a chess. Maybe he would be able to be committed to this club.

When he gets there, he kind of expects it to be silent, with people playing against one another, the only sound heard is be the crashing of the pieces being crunched and the occasional instruction “Bishop to D3.”

What Blaine most certainly didn’t expect was this. He takes a look around the old classroom to find everyone gathered around an old chess set on the ground. So Blaine joins the edges of the group, wondering if he should introduce himself or just join in when Brittany notices him.

“Blaine!” She says, smiling, “You came!”

He laughs as she gets up from her spot by the board and hugs him “Of course I did, Britt. I told you I would come along.”

She smiles and claps her hands together before turning and dragging Blaine towards the centre of the group “Introduce yourself!”

Blaine clasps his hands together and rocks backward on the heels of his feet “Hi everybody, I’m Blaine Anderson. Um, I’m a Hufflepuff,” he says nervously, gesturing to the badger on his robes “Britt asked me to come here today, and I thought why not. Uhmm… I don’t really know what else to say- just hi!”

Brittany pushes him down onto the floor right in front of the board “Because you’re a first-timer, you have to play me today,” she says cheerfully.

He hears a few people snicker as Blaine smiles; this shouldn’t be too hard, right? It’s only Brittany.

 

*

 

Five minutes. That is all it takes.

“But… how?” Blaine asks with wide eyes as he looks at Brittany across a chessboard scattered with an array of ruined white chess pieces.

“Never underestimate Britt,” a first year Gryffindor tells Blaine as he gets up, confused as to how it is exactly, that Brittany Pierce managed to beat him at chess in five minutes.

For the next half an hour of the meeting, Blaine sticks to the edges of the group. He has to admit he finds it okay but he doesn’t feel like he would ever be good enough to beat anyone here.

He doubts he’ll come back.

 

*

 

Blaine manages to sneak out of the classroom once he realises that the club isn’t going to be ending anytime soon. He feels kind of bad because he told Brittany he would go, which he guesses he did - he just didn’t stay.

So instead, he heads back to the common room so he can finish that Muggle Studies essay that he still hasn’t finished. It’s not like it’s his fault people are always asking him to do other stuff for them.

Blaine races up to his dorm, grabs his bag and heads back out, hoping no one notices him and asks him for help. He should really learn how to say no to people.

Luckily, everyone in the common room seems to be interested in something completely different, so he manages to sneak past everyone and get to the library uninterrupted.

Sitting down at the table, Blaine groans. He still has another 5 feet to write for this essay.

 

*

 

“Why are you doing all of this?” Kurt asks Blaine from across the table where he has just sat down, pulling out The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 5.

Blaine hums, “Doing what exactly?”

Kurt shrugs his shoulder and just gestures at him in general “You know, joining all of these new clubs? I saw you leaving Chess club earlier and you tried out for quidditch, duelling and gobstones. I’m also pretty sure I saw you sneaking out of Charms club last week.”

“Are you stalking me?” Blaine asks, smirking.

Kurt laughs “No, but seriously, I’m curious.”

Blaine carries on scribbling on his parchment for a few moments before answering in a small voice “I need to be dedicated.”

Kurt scrunches up his nose in confusion “Dedicated? What, why?”

“Because I’m a Hufflepuff.”

“Wha- Blaine,” Kurt says, sighing, before reaching over and grabbing his hands “You don’t need to be dedicated to those clubs to be in Hufflepuff.”

“No,” Blaine says as he puts his quill down “You don’t understand- that’s not it.”

“Bu-“

“No, Kurt,” Blaine says sharply, “Just let me figure this out on my own. Please?”

“Okay,” Kurt puts a smile on his face for which Blaine is grateful “So, how’s your essay coming along?”

 

*

 

Blaine finds himself running into Kurt more and more often now. Whenever they pass in the hallways he will get a small nod and a smile from Kurt, to which he returns with a wave and a beaming smile.

They’ll occasionally sit together at the library if they’re both there and Kurt will help Blaine with the work he’s struggling with and Blaine will help Kurt with Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology.

Blaine hasn’t tried to join any groups since Chess Club but he’s kind of been swamped with so much homework so hasn’t really had the time.

Today is the first day in weeks that he hasn’t got an essay to write or a dream diary to complete or detentions to go to. Which was not his fault, Sam was the one who thought it would be cool to throw a stink bomb down the transfiguration corridor.

So he decides to spend the day down in the greenhouses helping out Professor Bieste with all of the plants. She often needs help tending to all the plants, and since Blaine seems to be a natural at Herbology, she doesn’t mind him helping her out. Sometimes other people are there too, like Tina, Mike’s girl friend or Joe, a third year Gryffindor. But today he is alone and he likes it. Just being able to concentrate on the plants with no distractions.

He loves being able to spend days like this in the cool greenhouses with rain splattering on the roof, the air smelling so fresh and his hands covered in dirt.

He loves being able to tend to all the plants; some are months away from blossoming, whilst others are covered in a range of colours - contrasting against the dreary green of the other plants.

Currently, Blaine isn’t doing much. He’s just shearing some Shrivelfigs for Professor Sylvester’s third year potion class.  So he starts when he hears a cough from behind him, his heart jumping in his chest as he turns to see Kurt standing in the doorway.

“Kurt! Hi!” Blaine says, waiting for heartbeat to slow down “You scared the life out of me!”

He laughs, “Sorry, sorry. I don’t suppose you’ve seen the Professor have you?”

Blaine shakes his head “No, sorry. She went to find Professor Sylvester. Anything I can help with? I know Herbology isn’t your strongest subject.”

“Well, she set us an essay on the uses of the Bubotuber in medicine but I’m just having trouble on what to write. I don’t know if you’ll even be able to help.”

Blaine smiles at Kurt and gets up from his seat and walking over to some plants in the corner of the room “Okay, so the Bubotuber,” Blaine says, gesturing Kurt to come closer “It’s not the prettiest plant around, but it has its uses. Firstly, you see those large, shiny swellings on it? They contain a kind of yellowy-green pus which kind of smells like petrol. However the pus can react weirdly with our skin, so you don’t really want to touch it.” Blaine hears Kurt hum behind him in acknowledgement. “When it’s undiluted, it will cause horribly painful boils on your skin - trust me, you do not want that to happen to you, it hurts! But Sachasrissa Tugwood discovered that if you properly dilute the pus and then process it, it will cure acne. Although I don’t know why she would think of putting that stuff all over her face; it’s so gross- Kurt?”

Blaine looks over his shoulder to notice that Kurt is looking at him with a fond expression on his face.

“Did you ever figure out that whole dedication thing?” Kurt asks.

Blaine furrows his eyebrow “No, why?”

Kurt just smiles at him and steps closer “I know I said I would let you figure this out on your own but - Blaine. Do you not see how you are in this greenhouse? You love this so much, you have so much enthusiasm for it, and it’s adorable. God, Blaine- “

It’s the last thing Blaine hears before Kurt takes another step closer, body flush against Blaine’s. Suddenly Blaine feels the press of lips against his. He closes his eyes and relaxes into the kiss - Kurt is kissing him!

Blaine feels Kurt’s hands rest on his waist right before Blaine moves his hands, one cupping Kurt’s cheek, the other tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck, and presses further into the kiss.

Eventually Kurt pulls away and whispers against Blaine’s lips “I’ve wanted to do that for so long.”

Blaine stares in shock. Kurt Hummel wanted to kiss him - Kurt Hummel kissed him!

Before Blaine can say anything in reply, they both jump at the sound of a greenhouse door opening. Kurt gives Blaine another quick peck on the corner of his lips before stepping away just as Professor Bieste steps through the doorway.

“Professor! I was wondering if you could help me with that essay you set?” He asks, following Professor Bieste into the next room, giving Blaine a small smile just as he leaves the room.

Blaine feels a smile spread across his lips a few minutes afterwards as he heads back to his stool.

Kurt Hummel just kissed him.

He thinks back to what Kurt said right before the kiss and contemplates it. Maybe Kurt is right. Maybe this is what he is dedicated to. Maybe it doesn’t have to be a club like the others.

Maybe, just maybe, Blaine does belong in Hufflepuff.

 

*

 

Blaine doesn’t see Kurt for the rest of the weekend, telling himself he’s busy and that he’s not avoiding Kurt exactly. He ends up staying in the Hufflepuff common room for the rest of the weekend. He really doesn’t want to have to talk to Kurt, even though Sam has already told him it’s inevitable he doesn’t want Kurt to tell him that it was a mistake. That he doesn’t mean anything from it. Then again, should Blaine mention it? Does he tell Kurt how he feels? Should he wait for Kurt to mention it?

Blaine thumps his head on the desk where he’s sitting opposite Sam.

“Dude,” Sam says “Why are you so worked up about this?”

“Because he kissed me!” Blaine replies in a hushed voice.

“So go and talk to him,” Sam urges “Seriously, dude. Man up.”

Blaine groans and mumbles into his arms, “What if he doesn’t like me?”

“Why would he kiss you if he doesn’t like you? That doesn’t make sense!” Sam says, pulling Blaine’s arms away from his face.

“Who kissed Blaine?!” Brittany asks from where she’s sitting by the fire.

Blaine looks up, staring at Britt with wide eyes and notices that everyone is paying attention to their conversation. Great.

“Oh, you know Hummel, that fifth year Slytherin?” Sam says, ignoring Blaine’s indignant call of his name “In Greenhouse two, I think it was. Ever so romantic.”

“Sam!” Blaine shouts, “I didn’t want _everyone_ knowing that!”

Sam just waves his hand at Blaine, focusing on what Brittany is saying “Oh, I know who that is! He has a cute friend.”

Blaine looks confused “Finn?”

Brittany shakes her head, frowning “No, Santana. But he’s cute too. I always seem to find him near the magical room; I think he likes it there.”

Blaine just nods, even though he has no clue what the magical room is; this is Brittany talking.

“You should talk to him,” she says and Sam nudges him, grinning “Why wouldn’t he like you? You’re Blaine.”

 

ii. Patience

 

Their conversation isn’t going as had Blaine expected. Ideally, Blaine had expected a lot of kissing between whispers of honest confessions which would end up in them becoming boyfriends and holding hands down the corridors of the castle. Worst case scenario would be Kurt walking away from him, laughing at his feelings - although honestly, Blaine knew Kurt would _never_ do that to him.

Blaine had seen Kurt walking down a corridor just before his next lesson and in a rush of adrenaline, he had pulled Kurt into an empty classroom.

“GotoHogsmeadewithmenextweekend?” Blaine breathes out the second the door closes behind them.

“I’m sorry, what?” Kurt says with furrowed eyebrows.

“Um, do you, uh-” Blaine starts, scratching the back of his neck “Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me next week? Like, um, on a date?” Or as my boyfriend, he thinks to himself, not saying it because he thinks that maybe it’s a bit too forward.

“Well, I, um,” Kurt begins, before shaking his head and saying, “Of course. I would love to go with you.”

Blaine smiles shyly at Kurt “So, I’ll, um, we’ll figure out more details like next week or something?”

“Sounds great,” Kurt says, smiling widely at Blaine, showing all of his teeth.

“Well, I should probably get back to lunch; I think Sam was waiting for me…”

The bell rings and Kurt moves away and picks up his bag, clutching the strap as he says to Blaine, “See you around, Blaine Devon Anderson.”

 

*

 

Blaine slips into his seat next to Sam in his Transfiguration class, five minutes late with a radiant smile on his face.

“Where have _you_ been?” Sam asks in a whisper, smirking as he takes in Blaine’s rumpled appearance “Wait, let me guess…”

“Sam,” Blaine groans, which is completely ineffective as he’s still wearing that bright smile.

“You were with Kurt weren’t you?” Sam says, tugging on Blaine’s arm “Are you boyfriends yet? Did you kiss again? Did you ask him out?” Blaine smiles widely, a proud look on his face “Okay, I take that as a yes. Congrats, B. Now you just have to make him your boyfriend.”

 “Boys!” Their professor says “Stop talking and listen or I’ll have to deduct points. As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted - today we will be looking at how to vanish a pin…”

Blaine quickly runs his fingers through his hair and groans.

 

*

 

“Blaine, please stay behind after class,” Cooper – well - Professor Anderson, says, giving him a pointed look.

Blaine nods and turns back to his work, where he was sending his cushion flying away from him and then charming it to come back. Charms isn’t Blaine’s worst subject, but he guesses that his brother being the Charms teacher at Hogwarts is very useful.

So when the bell goes and everything is packed away, Blaine makes his way to Cooper’s desk.

“What did you need, Coop?” Blaine asks, sitting in Cooper’s chair.

“Well, I heard from a little birdie that you have a boyfriend,” Cooper says, winking at Blaine.

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Blaine sighs “So, if that was all, I would like to leave.”

“Nope, that is not all. Who is he?” Cooper asks.

“No-one. He’s no one. Don’t worry about it,” Blaine says, trying to leave but Cooper won’t move out of his way.

“Well, he’s obviously someone, Squirt,” Cooper says, “Or you wouldn’t be getting so worked up about it.”

“He’s not my boyfriend, okay?” Blaine says, frustrated now.

“Aha! But there is someone!”

“Yes, there is. But, I’m not going to tell you who because I do _not_ need you to give him the ‘big brother’ speech and cause problems.”

“Okay, okay,” Cooper says, laughing as he follows Blaine out of the classroom, both heading to the Great Hall “He’s cute though, right?”

“The cutest.”

 

*

 

Blaine jumps down onto his bed, sighing. Sam is lounging on his own bed with a book open in front of him.

“How did your study date go with your boyfriend?” Sam asks.

“Okay, one; I would appreciate you not telling my _brother_ that I have a boyfriend. Two; it wasn’t a date. Our date is on Saturday. Three; he is not my boyfriend. I don’t know what we are.”

“Be patient, dude,” Sam says “You’ll find out soon enough. Just go with it.”

“I can’t though,” he replies, lying on his back and closing his eyes “He hasn’t even kissed me again, since the first time. How do I know that he actually likes me?”

“Of course he likes you. He agreed to your date. Just calm down, okay? Make a countdown to your date or something? I don’t know, man.”

Blaine groans and runs his hands through his hair “I’m so confused! Why can’t he just kiss me again and tell me how he feels?”

 

*

 

Blaine slowly opens his eyes to Madame Pillsbury tilting his head up and putting an awful smelling potion to his lips.

He tries to jerk away but finds that everything hurts when he moves “Ow, ow, ow, ow.”

“I know it hurts, but the potion will help. It might make you feel a bit funny for a while though,” she says, as she tilts the potion into his mouth “Do you remember what happened?”

Blaine shakes his head after taking a gulp of the liquid, almost spitting it about because it tastes so foul. Madame Pillsbury gently moves his head back to rest on the pillow and almost immediately, Blaine can feel the effects of the potion throughout his body. He starts humming a random tune, ignoring what Madame Pillsbury is telling him, before she sighs and takes her gloves off and casts a spell to clean her hands off of any germs she may have picked up.

Blaine feels a warm, happy feeling settling in his stomach as he hums, thinking about everything and anything. That is until Blaine hears someone talking to him. He recognises that voice!

“Blaine, oh my god, are you okay?” Blaine turns his head to see Kurt rushing towards his bed, dropping his bag on the ground and sitting down in the seat next to his bed “I just heard from Mike, who heard from Tina, who heard from Sam that you’d been attacked by a Hippogriff.”

“’M fine,” Blaine slurs, laughing at the sound of his own voice “t’was my fault,” he pouts, “I just wanted to stroke him, but I forgot to bow.”

Kurt sighs “Thank god you’re okay.”

Blaine lifts his arm and pokes Kurt’s nose “You should _always_ bow to them, Kurt. They’re very proud creatures.”

Kurt laughs and grabs Blaine’s hand from where it was resting in front of his face and moves it away. He doesn’t let go.

 

*

 

 “Maybe you can kiss me better,” Blaine says, slurring his words slightly, still high on the potion Madame Pillsbury gave him.

“Blaine,” Kurt sighs, laughing from where he’s reading a book for DADA, still holding Blaine’s hand “I’m not going to take advantage of you while you’re like this.”

Blaine pouts, sticking his lower lip out “Buuuut I want you to!”

Kurt sighs and leans over, pressing a small kiss to Blaine’s cheek “There you go, I kissed you. Happy?”

“No,” Blaine says, sounding like a petulant child “You should kiss me properly and more often.”

Kurt’s grip on Blaine’s hand tightens ever so slightly “We haven’t even been on a proper date yet, B.”

“But we will have by Saturday!” Blaine says, smiling widely, “So after our date goes amazingly?”

“I’ll have to think about it,” Kurt replies, smiling, “But at the moment, you have a considerably large chance of me saying yes.”

“Yaaaaay,” Blaine says, blinking his eyes blearily “I’m tired.”

“Go to sleep then,” Kurt replies, looking over at him fondly, “I’ll be here when you wake up, okay, sweetie?”

Blaine hums, eyes slipping shut “I like that. You calling me sweetie. Do it forever?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Uh huh,” Blaine says as he drifts away into unconsciousness.

 

*

 

Madame Pillsbury eventually lets Blaine leave the Hospital Wing just before dinner on Friday night. His date with Kurt is _tomorrow_ and they haven’t made any plans; Kurt doesn’t even know that Blaine is out of the Hospital Wing.

So he heads straight down to The Great Hall and slides onto the bench next to Brittany and grabs some food.

“Blaine!” She says hugging him tightly “You’re alive! I missed you!” 

He laughs “I missed you too, Britt. You do know that you could’ve visited me though?”

“Oh, no. I can’t do that!” She says, whispering the next part “I swear something is hiding in there.”

“Wha-“ Blaine begins, but gets cut off by Sam jumping into his lap.

“Dude, you got out!”

Blaine laughs at his friends antics, when he hears another voice.

“So, I have some competition then, I see?”

Blaine looks up in shock to see that Kurt had come over from his usual table to talk to him “Kurt! Hi!” He says, pushing Sam out of his lap “Nope. This is Sam; he’s my best friend, also kind of an idiot.”

“Hey!”

“Shut _up_ , Sam.”

Kurt laughs “Anyway, you still up for tomorrow?”

“Yes! Of course,” Blaine replies eagerly.

“Meet you in the courtyard after breakfast?”

“Yep,” Blaine says, “See you then.”

Kurt stands still for a split second, before leaning closer and giving Blaine a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth. He straightens up and turns away, heading back to his table.

Sam is shouting in his ear, tugging at his arm like an excitable puppy but Blaine is just watching Kurt as he goes back to the Slytherin table, smiling when he turns and gives Blaine a small smile.

 

*

 

They’re walking through the grounds of Hogwarts, on their way to Hogsmeade; Blaine’s hand is brushing against Kurt’s as they move - desperate to grab a hold of it but he’s not sure if that’s something that they _do_ and the last thing he would want to do is make Kurt uncomfortable in any way.

So they walk, Kurt chatting about his best friends, Rachel and Santana, and Blaine tells Kurt of Sam and Brittany. He finds out that Santana can be a bitch but that he shouldn’t be offended when (when!) he meets her and Kurt asks how Rachel and Blaine are friends. Blaine tells him that he really doesn’t know - they just are.

“So, where are we actually going to do in Hogsmeade?” Kurt asks Blaine.

Blaine freezes “Um… I don’t know?”

Kurt gives him an incredulous look “You ask me out and don’t plan anything? You’ve always seemed so gentlemanly. I can’t believe you would do this to me.”

Blaine stutters through a reply “Uh- I’m sorry? I only just got out of the Hospital Wing and I just-“ He stops himself when he see the twinkle of amusement in Kurt’s eye and huffs out a laugh “Wow okay. You were joking. I just made a complete fool of myself…”

Kurt grabs Blaine’s hand, tangling his fingers between Blaine’s and smiles at him, eyes crinkling “No. You didn’t. I happened to find it very endearing.”

“Whatever,” Blaine says, tightening his grip on Kurt’s hand “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Hey,” Kurt says, looking straight at Blaine’s eyes “Not true, okay?”

Blaine just blushes and averts his eyes from Kurt’s, mumbling, “Okay.”

“However, if you decide to take me to Madame Puddifoot’s or The Hogs Head or even The Three Broomsticks, I take back my compliment.”

Blaine just smiles and swings his and Kurt’s hands “I know exactly where we should go.”

 

*

 

“The Shrieking Shack, Blaine?” Kurt asks, gripping Blaine’s arm with his scarf wrapped tightly around his neck “You really think that this is appropriate for our date?”

Blaine just smiles “We’re not quite there yet.”

He pulls Kurt up a small slope and slides through some branches.

“Blaine, wha-“ He begins, but Blaine cuts him off.

“Just wait for it.”

After battling their way through a few more branches, they step out into a clearing. Small beams of light are breaking through the cover from the trees above them with clusters of lilac flowers growing in the patches where the beams are hitting the ground. The petals of the flowers seem to be sparking in the light, little specks of shining matter floating around the edges of the plants.

Blaine lets go of Kurt and rushes over to a cluster, gesturing at Kurt to come closer.

“Look,” he says before covering the light above the flowers, drowning them in shadow. As the seconds pass, the sparkles fade away and the petal begin to close up, getting smaller and smaller as the plant recedes back into the ground.

Then Blaine removes the shadow his hands are making and lets the plant soak in the sunlight once more. Kurt draws in a breath as the flower grows, shimmering as the petals open up.

“They’re called Scintilluli – that means sparkle in Latin, how cute is that? In the sun they grow and grow, releasing pollen - those particles shimmering in the light, you see them?” Blaine asks, looking over at Kurt, smiling when Kurt nods “But as soon as you take away the sunlight, they just kind of go into reverse and go back into the seed that they began as. And then when they get more sun, they grow back. It’s kind of amazing, that cycle. Amazing, right?” Blaine says, cupping one of the flowers in his hands and after a few moments the petals seem to relax in his hands.

“Definitely,” Kurt says, not looking at the flower but instead at Blaine, who’s so engrossed in the flower, the light shimmering around him and as the pollen floating around him he breathes out “Beautiful.”

Blaine looks up at Kurt, smile on his face, eyes shining and Kurt doesn’t think he’s ever seen anything so beautiful. He lifts his palm to cup Blaine’s cheek, watching as Blaine’s eyes slide shut.

Blaine sits there, eyelashes fluttering as Kurt draws closer, one hand still cupped underneath the flower. Eventually, he feels Kurt’s breath against his lips and he hears Kurt whisper, “I really, really like you, Blaine Devon Anderson.”

Then Kurt’s lips are on Blaine’s and they move against each other; Kurt’s hand sliding from his cheek to tangle in his hair. Blaine’s hand is still on the flower and the other is on Kurt’s waist, helping him keep his balance.

Blaine moves his lips against Kurt’s, revelling in the feeling of being so wrapped up in Kurt. Blaine moves his hand from Kurt’s waist but the moment he does, he feels himself topple over; landing sprawled on the grass next to Kurt.

He lets out a small giggle which turns into full blown laughter with Kurt wiping at the tears in his eyes and Blaine turning his head to look at Kurt, laughter pouring from his body.

Eventually they calm down enough for Blaine to stand up, pocketing the flower still in his palm and holds out his hand to Kurt and helping him up. They brush their cloaks down, getting as much dirt off of them as they can. Kurt reaches over to brush some grass off of Blaine’s shoulder before stepping closer and pulling Blaine into another kiss.

This kiss is so very different from their first one. Blaine finds himself being pulled closer to Kurt and ends up sneaking his hands into Kurt’s cloak to rest on his waist while Kurt’s hands are clutching at Blaine’s robes, kissing him fiercely.

Blaine stretches up so he’s balancing on the balls of his feet, changing the angle of the kiss. Kurt moves one of his hands to tangle his fingers in Blaine’s dark curls.

They stay like this, just kissing and kissing and kissing, and Blaine doesn’t think that he will ever get tired of it. They break apart, panting slightly, lips red, Blaine resting his forehead against Kurt’s.

“Be my boyfriend?” Blaine asks, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice.

“Of course,” Kurt says, before pulling Blaine in for another kiss.

 

*

 

“Get it, dude!” Sam says, fist pumping the air before ruffling Blaine’s hair.

Blaine groans as Sam proceeds to tell everyone around them about Blaine’s new boyfriend. No wonder gossip spreads around Hogwarts so fast, Blaine thinks, before looking towards the Slytherin table. He manages to catch Kurt’s eye and smiles sheepishly at him.

“So he finally kissed you again?”

Blaine looks away from Kurt and to Brittany who’s sitting opposite him. He smiles at her, a light blush covering his cheeks.

“See, I told you he liked you!” She says, grabbing a sausage off of his plate “You just needed to be patient and wait for him to come to you.”

“I was patient,” Blaine says, unable to contain the smile at the thought of Kurt actually liking him.

Brittany just hums in reply and eats the sausage in her hand.

 

*

 

Blaine likes to think that he’s kind to other people. He _always_ holds open the door and will help people who look like they’re struggling. He doesn’t mind going out of his way to help others, but when Blaine thinks about it, this barely scratches the surface.

Out of all the Hufflepuff traits, this is the one that he believes he is the most like. But still, he doesn’t believe he is always kind. He does get frustrated with Brittany and he does get angry at Sam. He does things that annoy people; his brother, teachers, Kurt. And that is what makes him unkind.

Right?

 

iii. Kindness

 

Blaine’s been having a terrible week. It started out on Monday when he woke up feeling ecstatic because of his date with Kurt, only to be loaded with a week’s worth of catch-up work when he went to lessons. So instead of spending his time hanging out in the common room with his friends, or in an abandoned classroom with Kurt, he ends up spending his time in the library, trying to complete the multiple essays and tasks from his teachers.

By Wednesday, he is beginning to get stressed, surrounded by a multitude of books and parchment as he sits in the library, scribbling furiously on the parchment as he tries to get at least another essay done before dinner.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees someone sit down opposite him. He doesn’t really take any notice of them until he hears a small cough and he decides to lift his head.

Immediately his eyes find blue and he smiles at the boy sitting opposite him.

“Busy?” Kurt asks, reaching over to take Blaine’s hand.

Blaine relaxes at Kurt’s touch and runs his other hand through his hair and yawns before saying, “Something like that.”

Kurt coos at him, “Well, at least I now know why you’ve been avoiding me since the weekend. I wasn’t sure if you-”

“No, no, no. All of my teachers gave me my catch-up work on Monday and they _all_ expect in to be in next week. I’ve literally been stuck here every minute I’m not in lessons. I haven’t changed my mind about anything.”

“I’m glad,” Kurt says, kissing the back of Blaine’s hand.

They sit there for a few minutes, Kurt stroking a thumb over Blaine’s knuckles every so often until Kurt looks at the time and says, “It’s almost time for dinner. I’m sure you could do with a break, right?”

“No, no. I need to get this done,” Blaine says, sighing “I have so much to do.”

“C’mon, Blaine. You’re going to wear yourself out,” Kurt replies “You can sit with me?”

Blaine gives Kurt a soft smile “I’d love that.”

 

*

 

As Blaine sits down next to Kurt at the Slytherin table, he doesn’t expect to hear a, ‘What is _that Hufflepuff_ doing here?’ He stares in shock at the large boy who made the comment, suddenly feeling completely unwelcome. Blaine fiddles with his robes until he feels Kurt’s hand on knee.

“Shut it, Karofsky. He’s here because _I_ want him here,” Kurt says before grabbing food from the plate in front of him.

Kurt smiles at Blaine and whispers, “Relax, take no notice of him.”

Blaine smiles back, piling food onto his own plate and they chat about their past few days until they finish their food.

“So, other than doing an insane amount of work, have you done anything interesting this week?” Kurt asks, filling his and Blaine’s goblets with pumpkin juice.

Blaine is about to shake his head before he remembers “Oh! We studied unicorns in Care of Magical Creatures yesterday! I wasn’t allowed to get that close to them since I’m a boy and considering what happened last week, I don’t think I’m very trusted anymore.” He pouts and Kurt laughs “They’re so pretty! Especially the foals, I didn’t realise that they would be gold. I wanted to keep them all.”

“I remember doing that last year but honestly, I don’t think I paid that much attention to them. I’m not exactly interested in animals.”

“But-”

“Oh, look who it is,” a female voice drawls “Lady Hummel and his new boy toy.”

Blaine flinches at the words and he looks up to see Santana sitting across from them.

“Shut it, Satan,” Kurt says before turning back to Blaine.

“I can see why you like him, Hummel,” she says, “He’s cute, short and probably a bit clueless.”

“W-what?” Blaine splutters.

“You heard me,” she says with a wave of her hand “I gots to know the deets. You two had sex yet?” She pauses for a second and laughs to herself “I forgot who I was talking to. Have you at least had any tongue-on-tongue action yet?”

“Santana!” Kurt says, glaring at her “That is none of your business.”

“Whatever. I’m just interested in what you and the hobbit-”

“Okay,” Blaine says as he gets up and shoulders his satchel, frustrated “I’m just gonna go back to the library and get some work done.”

“Blaine-” Kurt begins.

Blaine leans down and gives Kurt a quick kiss on the lips, “I’ve got so much work to get done and I really wanted to finish at least one essay tonight.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow.” Blaine confirms, ignoring Santana completely as he walks away, gripping his satchel so tightly his knuckles are turning white.

He hears Kurt behind him hissing at Santana, “What the _hell_ , ‘Tana?”

Blaine leaves before he hears Santana’s response.

 

*

 

“I’m sorry about Santana, by the way,” Kurt says as they walk down the corridor, holding hands “She can be a bit of a bitch sometimes.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think it helped that I was so stressed. I’ve still got so much to do though so that’ll probably be another night spent in the library,” Blaine sighs.

Kurt grips his hand tighter “I would offer to keep you company, but I have prefect duties tonight.”

“That’s okay, I don’t think I’ll get anything done with you there anyway,” Blaine says, laughing “You’re too much of a distr-”

“Hey, Hummel,” a voice calls from behind them “No-one wants to see that around here.”

Kurt turns, his breath caught in his throat, frozen to the spot. Blaine straightens himself and faces Karofsky.

“See what, exactly?” Blaine says, keeping his voice strong.

“You ‘n him, acting like fairies.”

“Don’t watch us then,” Blaine says simply.

“It’s hard when you’re parading yourselves everywhere,” Karofsky says, taking a step closer to Blaine.

“We’re not _parading_ around.” Blaine says incredulously. A few people are beginning to stop at stare at them. Blaine feels Kurt pull his hand, trying to pull him away from Karofsky whispering his name but Blaine ignores him and stands tall against the boy. Considering he’s at least a head shorter than Karofsky, it’s kind of hard to be intimidating.

“You’d better back down before I-”

“Before you what? Try and beat the _gay_ out of us?”

“Shut your mouth, I don’t wanna catch anything,” Karofsky says before Blaine lunges at him, punching him square on the jaw. He ducks as Karofsky takes a swing, catching Blaine’s head. He gasps in pain before he pulls out his wand.

“What is _wrong_ with you?” Blaine asks, pointing his wand at Karofsky but before he manages to cast a spell, his wand goes flying out of his hands.

“ANDERSON. KAROFSKY. MY OFFICE. NOW.”

Professor Sylvester storms towards the two of boys and they get pushed down the corridor when she reaches them. Blaine looks back at Kurt and mouths an apology before Sylvester gives him another push and he stumbles away.

 

*

 

“What the hell do you think you were doing?” Sylvester shouts at them the minute they enter her dingy office in the dungeons “Throwing punches, like _muggles._ I don’t know if you are aware of this fact, but you currently _attend a magic school._ You learn magic. Why not use it now? I’m just disappointed in the fact that you two imbeciles are obviously unable to think with your brains-”

“But, miss-”

“Shut it, Gay Number 2. Anyway, I guess I should try and find out what happened.  David, you first.”

“I didn’t even do anything,” Karofsky says and Blaine snorts in annoyance, “He just attacked me.”

“I- I did _not._ ” Blaine says, outrageously, “He was taunting us. For _walking down a corridor!_ He think it’s ok for him to call me names - just because I’m gay.”

“I said nothin’, miss.” Karofsky says.

“You called us _fairies!_ As if being gay is such a bad thing. At least I have a boyfriend. I don’t see girls lining up to ask you out,” Blaine says, crossing his arms and looking away from the boy.

“You got any proof, Anderso-”

“I’ve had enough,” Professor Sylvester says. She points at Blaine “You,” she says, “detention. This Saturday for initiating a fight. You’re lucky it’s not more.” She points at Karofsky “And you. Detention every Saturday for the next three weeks, for the fighting and because, well, I just don’t like you that much. You’re both dismissed.”

 

*

 

“What happened?” Blaine hears the minute he steps into the common room “I heard you had a huge fight. Did you win? Why did you fight him in the first place?”

Blaine glares at Sam who’s asking him all of these questions “Sam.”

“Oh man, you totally lost didn’t you? I mean, he is like way taller and bigg-”

“Sam! I’m really _not_ in the mood for this right now, okay? I’ve had a shitty day, I’m pretty sure Kurt is going to be super angry at me and I’ve got to deal with detention from Sylvester on Saturday as well. I just want to go to bed.”

Blaine storms across the common room, ignoring the stares of everyone around him and makes his way to him room. Flopping down on his bed, Blaine groans and rubs his hands through his hair.

_Why is he such an idiot?_

 

*

 

“What the _hell_ were you thinking?” Is the first thing Kurt asks the minute they’re alone in an old classroom the next day “Starting a fight with Karofsky of all people.”

“I’m not going to just let him talk to me that way. Talk to _us_ that way.”

“Don’t start fights with him though, Blaine. You could’ve gotten hurt!”

Blaine huffs and folds his arms over his chest defensively “I didn’t, did I?”

Kurt replies, “But you could’ve. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”

“And you do?”

Kurt stays silent and Blaine stares in shock “Are you serious? Why haven’t you said anything, Kurt? What did he do?”

“Nothing. He doesn’t do anything.”

Blaine snorts, “I think yesterday was kind of proof that _something_ is going on.”

“Still doesn’t mean you should punch him! You don’t-” Kurt sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose “You shouldn’t get involved.”

“Shouldn’t get involved?” Blaine repeats questioningly “I’m your _boyfriend,_ Kurt. I want to be able to help. Not just ignore the problem like it doesn’t exist.”

Kurt straightens up and looks Blaine in the eye “Well, maybe I don’t _want_ to talk about it, okay? Maybe I just didn’t want my boyfriend to have to deal with it because nothing has happened and nothing will happen.”

“You don’t know that! You’ve got to do something.”

“I haven’t got to do anything,” Kurt says haughtily.

“Kurt, come on.”

“No, Blaine. Just leave it, okay?”

“But-” Blaine sighs, then continues, “Okay, fine. But I don’t agree with this, Kurt.”

“I never said that you have to.” Kurt says, before walking out of the room.

Blaine leans against the desk behind him and closes his eyes, running a hand through his hair as he takes deep breaths. He’s so frustrated and upset and he just can’t stand being treated like that by someone. Not when he knows there is something he can do about it.

The bell rings for class so Blaine picks up his satchel and heads down to the grounds. At least he has Herbology now so he can try and relax down in the greenhouses.

 

*

 

He doesn’t know what to do. He knows he definitely shouldn’t have run out in the middle of Sylvester’s detention, but what else could he do? She can’t expect him to carry on cleaning out all the old cauldrons with _him_ right there.

Professor Sylvester is probably searching the entire castle for him right now, but he can’t go back. He just can’t.

He feels his hands shaking as he wraps them around his legs from where he’s sitting on the floor in the corner of an unused classroom.

He looks up, startled when the door opens unexpectedly and Brittany wafts in. He didn’t expect anyone to be wandering around this part of the castle on a day like this.

“Oh, hi Blaine,” Brittany says cheerfully as she walks into the classroom. She stops for a second and stares at Blaine become walking towards him and grabbing his hands “What’s wrong?”

Blaine goes to say something, but his breath hitches and he just shakes his head instead. She frowns at him before pulling him up and dragging him out of the room.

“Sylvester is looking for you and that isn’t the best hiding place. I know of one so much better,” she begins “She found me in the library and was asking for you, said that you had skipped out on her punishment. I told her that, no, there is no way Blaine Anderson would do that. He nearly always follows the rules and would _never_ disobey a teacher. She stormed out and I think she went to the common room, but I don’t think she knows how to get in there anyway so I don’t know what she was planning on doing.”

Brittany is still holding his hand as she drags him down the corridor “I’m glad I found you though. I think that you could really do with something so you can cheer up so I’m taking you to a magical room.”

Blaine almost laughs but all of a sudden Brittany is letting go of his hand and is pushing him to stand in front of a wall.

“Wha-”

“Walk past the wall three times and think in your head of what you want, right now, okay? I’m going to go find someone, then I’ll be right back. You need to be specific and if it doesn’t work first try, then have another go.”

Brittany starts to walk down the corridor and calls over her shoulder “It has to be some sort of place, not a person!”

Blaine stares after her for a few seconds before staring back at the blank wall.

What do I want, he thinks but the first thing that comes to his mind is _Kurt._ He wants this day to never have happened. He wants so many things that he _can’t_ have.

Blaine walks past the wall, squeezes his eyes shut and thinks, _I want an escape. Somewhere I can go to get away. I want somewhere that only those I want can find me._

Blaine pauses for a second before opening his eyes. They widen in shock as he takes in the door that has suddenly appeared in front of him. Cautiously, he reaches out to take the handle and opens the door.

Upon stepping into the room, Blaine suddenly feels much more calm than before. The room isn’t particularly big, but it’s warm and cosy with a fireplace alight against the far wall, the Hufflepuff house colours lining the walls alongside rows of potted plants. 

Blaine sits down on the sofa in front of the fire and closes his eyes, trying to relax - trying to pretend that today didn’t happen.

 

*

 

Blaine turns quickly from the fireplace when he hears the door creak open behind him, heart beating with fear. Blaine sighs in relief when he sees Kurt step into the room but the minute he catches Kurt’s eye he feels tears gathering in his eyes.

“Blaine?” Kurt asks cautiously “What’s going on?”

“K-Kurt,” is all Blaine can say before tears are falling from his eyelashes and Kurt is rushing towards him, falling onto the sofa beside Blaine and pulling him into a hug, cradling the back of his head as he twists his fingers in Blaine’s dark curls.

“Hey, hey,” Kurt says as Blaine cries into his chest “It’s going to be okay. You’ll be okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Blaine says before burying his face back into Kurt chest, trying to muffle his sobs. 

They sit like that for a while until Blaine eventually calms down enough to talk. He pulls away from Kurt slightly, just enough so that he can see his face, before he looks back at the fire, twisting his fingers together.

Blaine whispers, barely audible “He kissed me.”

Kurt jerks back in shock, “What?”

“I’m sorry, Kurt. I’m so sorry. I didn’t-”

Kurt quiets him, “It’s not your fault, Blaine. Don’t- Why are you apologising?”

Blaine shrugs “I don’t know what to do,” he whispers, his voice breaking at the end.

“Blaine,” Kurt whispers, holding Blaine tighter “It’s going to be okay.”

Blaine says in a small voice, “Promise?”

“Yeah, I promise.”

 

*

 

They sit in the room for hours, lying on the sofa with Blaine pillowed on Kurt’s chest as he runs his fingers through Blaine’s hair. They barely talk - content just being in each other’s presence.

Eventually, Blaine gets restless and gets up, wandering around the room. He heads straight for the plants that are sitting around the edge of the room and studies them.

Kurt stays on the sofa but sits up and pulls some work out of his bag before looking for a quill.

“Hey, Blaine,” Kurt says “I don’t suppose you have a quill on you?”

“Sorry,” Blaine replies, looking back at Kurt “I don’t have my bag on me.”

Kurt groans and thinks, great, I can’t do anything without a quill.

“Uh, Kurt?” Blaine says, turning around with something in his hand “This yours?”

“Wha-” Kurt looks up to see Blaine holding a black quill “Where did come from?!”

“I don’t know,” Blaine shrugs, passing the quill to Kurt who studies it “I turned around and it was just sticking out of one of the pots.”

“Huh, okay,” he says before pulling his work towards him and starts to scribble down over the parchment. A few minutes later he asks, “So what is this room anyway?”

“I don’t know, actually. Britt just told me to think of what I needed and it appeared.”

Kurt smiles, “I guess it’s just another one of Hogwart’s many mysteries.”

 

*

 

They eventually leave their little room and run down the corridor hand in hand, desperately hoping Sylvester doesn’t catch them as they head towards Cooper’s office.

When they reach his office, Blaine turns to Kurt and pulls him in for a hug.

“I think that maybe I should let you talk to him alone,” Kurt says, rubbing a thumb against Blaine’s cheekbone’s once he’s pulled back from the hug. Kurt then leans around Blaine and knocks on the door.

 Kurt looks at Cooper who has just answered the door, then back at Blaine before taking a step backwards, towards the door “I think that maybe I should just leave you two to talk and let Blaine explain himself.” Kurt leans forward and kisses the corner of Blaine’s mouth and lightly touches his cheek before turning and leaving Blaine alone with Cooper.

“See you around, professor,” Kurt calls back.

“Where the _hell_ have you been?” Cooper asks as he ushers him into the room and as Blaine looks around he sees that it’s in a complete state “Sue just came by looking for you, tore my office apart claiming that I was - and I quote - ‘hiding my hobbit brother somewhere in here.’ What did you think you were doing, Blaine? Running out of a detention like that.”

Blaine looks so small as he curls into himself and stares down at the floor “I’m sorry, Cooper.”

“Blaine,” Cooper says, softer this time “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Blaine says.

“It’s obviously _not_ nothing.”

Blaine stays silent.

“Blaine?” Cooper says, leaning against his desk, “Will you please tell me what happened? I’m really worried right now.”

“It’s just- Karofsky. I don’t- can’t be around him, if, if, he’s going to- I just can’t, Coop,” Blaine says, voice breaking.

“Hey, Squirt,” Cooper responds, “I heard about the fight but I’m guessing this isn’t anything to do with that, right?”

Blaine shakes his head “He- he just- I can’t tell you, Coop.”

“Blaine...”

“I _can’t,_ Cooper. Please don’t make me.”

“Okay, but Blaine, I’m keeping my eye out. You know you can talk to me, right? I’m always here.”

“I know, Coop. I know. I just- I can’t with this, I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologise,” Cooper says, before pulling Blaine into a bone crushing hug “I love you, little bro.”

“I love you, too, Cooper.”

If they both have tears in their eyes, neither mention it.

 

*

 

_{an interlude starring Prof. Cooper Anderson}_

 

“What the hell were you thinking?” Cooper says as he storms into Sue’s office.

“Excuse you, Anderson.” She says, not moving from where she’s sitting behind her desk.

“Putting Blaine in detention _with_ Karofsky just after they got into a fight. Didn’t it occur to you that something might happen?”

Sue sits back against her chair, thinking for a moment before answering “I admit, perhaps not my greatest idea. However does this mean that you found that little brother of yours?”

“He came to my office in a state, Sue! I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like that and he wouldn’t even tell me what happened. Something with Karofsky. Jesus Christ,” Cooper says, slumping down in the chair opposite Sue “Can we just expel him?”

“You have no real proof that anything happened and until we can get that, there’s nothing we can do,” Sue says, leaning on her desk.

“What, so I just have to sit around and watch my little brother get harassed?”

“No,” Sue says, “We keep an eye on it and the minute something else happens, the kid is out of here.”

Cooper sighs and runs a hand through his hair “You didn’t see him. He was a wreck.”

Sue hums in reply, before saying, “However, he did not complete my detention and he _will_ have to make up for it.”

“I’ll let him know,” Cooper says, getting up to leave the room “Thanks, Sue.”

 

*

 

Blaine lays awake in bed that night, staring at the patterns on the ceiling, unable to sleep as he tosses and turns. Every time he closes his eyes, all he can think of is Karofsky; looming over him as he presses him against the wall.

Looking at the clock, Blaine groans as he notices it’s only 10 past 1. He quietly gets out of bed and from his trunk, he grabs the old blanket that his grandma knitted for him when he was 8 and sneaks back to the common room.

He sits down on the soft rug in front of the fire and pokes at it to get it going again before pulling the blanket over himself.

Sitting in the silence, Blaine wonders what he’s supposed to do tomorrow. How can he act like nothing has happened? What will he do if – when - he sees Karofsky?

Blaine just sits there, staring into the flickering flames, watching them as they begin to grow and grow. He tries not to think of what’s going to happen next. Tries to lose himself and just relax, so he lays down on his stomach, pillowing his head on his arms. His eyes begin to droop when something jumps onto his back startling him slightly.

“Hey there,” he says, voice quiet as Lord Tubbington makes himself comfy on the small of Blaine’s back.

Blaine smiles as unconsciousness begins to catch up on him and he slowly begins to fall asleep.

 

*

 

It’s 5.30am when he wakes to Brittany trying to lift Lord Tubbington off of Blaine’s back.

She’s talking, mostly to herself “Come on, Lord Tubbington, I know you were keeping Blaine company but you need to go to bed. You don’t want to be sleep deprived again do you? We both know what happened last time you didn’t sleep, huh?”

Blaine groans and rolls over, effectively dislodging the cat from his back, and gets up. Stretching his sore muscles,Blaine smiles at Brittany before heading back up to his much more comfy four poster bed.

It’s not until the morning that Blaine realises he hasn’t thought of Karofsky for hours but when he does, it’s because Karofsky is glaring at him from the Slytherin table, sending chills running down Blaine’s spine.

But Blaine just tries his best to ignore the stares on his back and eats his breakfast. He doesn’t want to be reminded of what happened yesterday. He just wants to forget it ever happened.

 

*

 

Blaine’s walking down the corridor with Sam the next day, on their way to transfiguration when someone shoves Blaine up against the wall.

“Who did you tell?”

Blaine lifts his head to find Karofsky’s face inches from his own. His breath stutters in his throat as the memories from the previous day come rushing back to him. But before Blaine gets the chance to react Karofsky is being pushed away from him. The grip on his shoulders has gone and Blaine takes in a deep breath as he focuses on the scene in front of him.

“What the hell, man?” Sam is shouting at Karofsky who is struggling in Sam's grip, "What is your problem?!"

Karofsky shoves Sam who loses his grip "He's my problem," he says, pointing a finger in Blaine's face before repeating himself "Who did you _tell_?"

He's starting to sound frantic now, his voice laced with panic and fear which pulls Blaine from his silence "No-one," Blaine says quietly, afraid someone will overhear "I promise. I'm not going to- I'm not, I promise. I wouldn't do that to you - to anyone."

Karofsky just shakes his head at Blaine "Whatever," he says.

"Just... Just leave me alone - leave Kurt alone and, and, I won't tell anyone," Blaine feels a pang of guilt, he wants to _help._ He wants him to know that it's okay and that he's okay but instead he receives a sharp nod from the boy who doesn't want any help and watches as he stalks down the corridor. Sam is instantly at his side. Questions and questions are being thrown at him but Blaine just shakes his head. He doesn't want to open his mouth. He's afraid of what he might say, what he might tell Sam.

Sam seems to understand what Blaine wants, that he doesn't want to talk about it and so Sam just pulls him along the corridor and towards their transfiguration class chatting about anything but David Karofsky. And for that, Blaine is so grateful. 

 

*

 

The week passes quickly, every day Blaine is terrified of turning every corner just in case _he’s_ there. He tries to be subtle as he never goes anywhere alone - always with someone, whether it be Kurt, Sam or Mike. Blaine knows that his friends suspect something but he can't tell them, not only because he’s trying to stay but also because he can't just _out_ someone like that.

What sort of person does that?

Sitting at breakfast Sunday morning with the owls soaring into the hall, Blaine is surprised when an unfamiliar school owl drops a letter onto his breakfast just before taking a bit of Blaine's bacon and soaring back into the sky.

He grimaces as he tries to wipe the beans off of the parchment, uncovering familiar cursive handwriting spelling out his name. Unravelling the note he finds few words but they still manage to bring a bright smile to his face.

_Astronomy Tower_

_12 tonight_

Searching the Slytherin table, Blaine catches Kurt’s eye and nods his head, smile never wavering.

 

*

 

That night he sneaks through the corridors of the castle, peering round every corner so as not to get caught, causing his journey to take triple the amount of time it normally should.

But he makes it to find Kurt already there with his eyes closed, sitting by the edge, one leg dangling off of the side of the building, the other bent as he leans against the pillar.

Blaine doesn’t think he’s ever seen anyone more beautiful. It takes his breath away. He takes a step forward, the floorboards creaking underneath his feet, alerting Kurt of his presence.

He looks towards Blaine, a smile breaking out on his face. That one that’s reserved just for Blaine; for those moments when they’re in private. Kurt just looks at Blaine with that smile; Showing all of his teeth, his eyes light up - leaving Blaine breathless.

Blaine sits down next to Kurt, cuddling up next to him. Head on his shoulder, arms around his waist, fidgeting until he gets comfortable. 

“Hey you,” Kurt whispers into Blaine’s hair, shifting slightly so that he can get an arm around Blaine.

“Mmph,” he grunts into Kurt’s sweater causing Kurt to let out a breathless chuckle.

They sit in silence for a while, Kurt extracting his arm from underneath Blaine so that he can play with his curls.

“You okay?” Kurt asks, and Blaine looks up to see his eyes so wide and earnest and it makes him want to cry.

Instead he just takes in a deep, shaky breath and shrugs his shoulders “It’s just been a long week.”

“Can I ask a question?” Kurt asks, waiting for Blaine’s murmur of agreement before continuing “Would you out him?”

Blaine jerks out of Kurt’s grasp, a hurt look crossing his face “You- you think I would do that to him?”

Kurt shakes his head vigorously, grabbing Blaine’s hands, “No, no, of course not. It’s just… Sam told me what happened in the corridor the other day, what you said to him and I- I just really hoped you didn’t actually mean it-”

Blaine relaxes slightly, leaning back into Kurt’s embrace, “I wouldn’t, Kurt. I- I couldn’t. I just didn’t know how else to get him to leave me alone. I could never out him like that.”

“I believe you, Blaine. I just, I can’t imagine how he’ll be treated if he gets outed…”

“What, like he treats us?” Blaine adds quietly.

“At least we have each other,” Kurt replies, pressing his lips to Blaine’s temple “He’ll have no one.”

Blaine just shrugs, leaning back into Kurt’s embrace. In silence, Blaine watches the night sky and just breathes. For the first time all week he doesn’t feel like he’s trapped and can’t get away. He’s happy sitting there on the hard, cold floor of the astronomy tower, the wind occasionally causing the hairs on his arms to stand up.

Blaine looks up at the stars and marvels at their beauty - how much they shine and sparkle in the night sky. He thinks about how they’re always there, no matter where he is or who he’s with. Even if it’s in the middle of the day or if it’s raining, they’re there. It makes him feel at home.

“Do you think I’m unkind?” Blaine asks, surprising himself with the question.

Kurt furrows his eyebrows, and wraps his arms tighter around Blaine “Why would you even ask that?”

“I just - I don’t know, forget it.”

Kurt sighs “Don’t, Blaine. Of course I don’t think you’re unkind. I think you are one of the kindest people I have ever met. Is this- is this because of Karofsky?”

“Kinda, I just- I don’t want to upset anyone and I-”

“See,” Kurt says, whispering into Blaine’s ear, “That is exactly why you’re not _unkind._ Unkind would be Santana’s unnecessary comments or Dave’s actions. Being mean would be you outing him-”

“But I still threatened him with it,” Blaine says.

“But you’re not actually going to do it, you’re doing it to keep him away from you. That’s understandable. Most people would just out him straight away.”

Blaine just shrugs, “I guess you’re right.”

“I’m always right,” Kurt says, laughing “Maybe in a few weeks you should talk to him. Once he’s calmed down, maybe he’ll be rational.”

“I’ll think about it,” Blaine replies as he turns around to look Kurt in the eyes. “I love you,” Blaine breathes. Not expecting a response, he smiles at Kurt, looking up from under his eyelashes.

“I love you, too.”

Blaine leans forward slowly before capturing his lips against Kurt’s.  He pulls away and settles back down in front of Kurt, leaning on his chest as he grabs Kurt’s hands and pulls them across his abdomen and holds them there, gently.

And they sit there until the sun rises - the golden rays stretching across the horizon - in a tangle of limbs not quite asleep but not awake either. They stay until the sun is blinding and Kurt manages to drag a bleary-eyed Blaine back through the castle and to the room of requirement where they can warm up and get a few hours of sleep before starting the next week afresh.

Blaine keeps in mind everything Kurt has said and he thinks that maybe Kurt is right.

*

 

Easter passes by in a blur of chocolate, laughter and kisses. Kurt and Blaine end up spending a lot of time in their room, which they found out is actually called the Room of Requirement. But then Easter is over and exams are fast approaching.

Exam season is always the most stressful time of the year for Hogwarts students. Luckily for Blaine, he’s still got another year until OWLs and only has to endure the end of year exams. They’re finished pretty quickly and he usually ends up sitting down by the lake with Tina as they watch Brittany and Sam play with the Giant Squid.

Unfortunately for Kurt, he’s sitting his OWLs and has been shutting himself up in the library with Mike. Blaine understands his boyfriend’s need to study, but he’s getting frustrated - he and Kurt haven’t spent more than an hour alone together in weeks. As much as he loves Sam and Brittany, he needs to spend time with Kurt to keep him sane.

“How’re you and Kurt?” Tina asks as they sit under a tree, sun shining over the grounds, twinkling off of the water of the lake.

Blaine groans.

“Bad?” Tina says, shocked “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Blaine says, “I feel like I never see him and when I do he’s always distracted. I mean, I know he has his OWLs and I know that he needs to study, but he needs breaks too and god, I’m so frustrated.”

Tina giggles and Blaine glares at her, “Sorry, sorry,” she says, “I can totally sympathise though. Mike’s been going crazy because his parents expect so much from him so we’ve literally had no time together. But it’s okay because I’ll see him all summer because we can floo to each other’s houses.”

Blaine sighs “Yeah, I guess. I just want these stupid exams to be over.”

Tina rests her head on Blaine’s shoulder “Don’t worry, only a few weeks left until you’ll have Kurt all to yourself again.”

“How will I cope?” Blaine mutters into Tina’s hair.

 

iv. Tolerance

 

They stumble into the Room of Requirement the minute the door appears, hands grasping at each other’s clothes, Blaine sliding his hands underneath Kurt’s shirt.

Kurt pushes Blaine against the wall, pressing his lips to Blaine’s in an urgent kiss.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Blaine gasps, Kurt kissing his jawline.

“But I’ve been here all along,” Kurt says against Blaine’s skin.

“I’ve missed _this,_ ” Blaine says, kissing Kurt once again.

“Mmm, me too.” Kurt opens his eyes for a second and spots the clock on the wall opposite him “Shit,” he says, pulling away from Blaine and straightening his uniform.

Blaine whines as Kurt pulls away “Where are you going?” He asks, eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

“I’m late for a study session with Mike,” Kurt says as he tightens his tie.

“But I’ve barely seen you in ages,” Blaine moans, knowing his sounds like a spoiled teenager.

“I see you pretty much every day, Blaine,” Kurt says “These exams are important to me.”

“I’m not saying that, Kurt,” Blaine replies “I just feel like we’re barely together anymore. Is it really that selfish of me to ask to see you every so often?”

“Yes, it is,” Kurt says angrily “I’m not going to fail my exams over _some boy._ ”

Blaine feels his stomach clench and stares at Kurt in shock “What, so I’m just _some boy_ to you?”

“No, god, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that, okay?” Kurt says, glancing at the clock again “Can we please talk later?” He asks anxiously.

“Sure. Whatever,” Blaine says, before turning and sitting down on the sofa, his back to Kurt.

Kurt stares at Blaine’s back for a few moments before saying “I’m sorry,” and leaving the room.

 

*

 

Blaine’s quiet at dinner after having cried his eyes out sitting by the flickering fire in _their_ room. His friends pretend not to notice and for that he’s thankful. He’s just twirling his fork in his food absentmindedly when he feels someone sit down next to him. Instantly, he knows who it is.

“Hey,” Kurt says, giving Blaine a small smile “I’m so sorry.”

Blaine’s breath hitches in his throat.

“I didn’t- None of what I said is true, okay? I would do _anything_ for you.” Kurt says, blinking away tears. “Can we leave before I start crying in the middle of dinner?”

Blaine nods and gets up, following Kurt out of the Great Hall. They automatically walk to the Room of Requirement together in silence. Tension building and building between them.

Kurt’s the one to open the room and when he does, he gasps in surprise. It’s still their usual room, just with added bonuses.

“Wha- Oh.” Blaine stares in shock at all of the blooming flowers surrounding the whole room, an explosion of colour filling the room.

“What did you think of?” Blaine asks quietly.

“Somewhere where you would be happy.”

They’re quiet for a few minutes - Blaine studying the plants - before Kurt pulls Blaine by his hand to the sofa by the fire.

“I’m sorry too,” Blaine says quietly and Kurt looks at him in surprise “I know how hard it is for you at the moment. I’ve just really, really missed you.”

“You’re not just some boy to me. You know that right? I was just stressed and annoyed and upset and I’m so sorry, Blaine.”

“It’s okay,” Blaine says, resting his head on Kurt’s shoulder.

“No, it’s not,” Kurt sighs “I’ve decided that maybe I can take some time out of my busy revision schedule to have a night off and spend it with my boyfriend...” Kurt says, hopefully.

“Are you sure?” Blaine asks, eyes wide with hope, “I know-”

“I’m sure,” Kurt says, dropping a kiss to Blaine’s head. “Are we okay?”

“Yeah, yes. Of course.”

Kurt smiles and hugs Blaine, squeezing tightly before letting go and saying, “Now get up like I know you want to, and tend to those plants.”

 

*

 

"Do you want us to wait with you?" Sam asks, arm linked with Brittany's as they stand in the courtyard outside the castle. A light breeze is ruffling their clothes, sending shivers through their bodies even as the bright sun shines on them.

"No, no," Blaine says, waving them on "He won't be long, I'm early anyway."

Sam frowns and looks up at the huge clock, "But-"

"Just go, okay? I'm fine, I'm not a kid."

"Okay, okay. Jeez, man," Sam says "See you later?"

"Yeah, have fun today," Blaine replies, practically pushing them down the pathway.

"Have fun with Kurt!" Brittany says, smiling back at Blaine as she grabs Sam's hand and pulls him towards Hogsmeade.

Blaine is, in  fact, not at all early. Looking up at the clock above him, he sees that Kurt is almost forty-five minutes late. He sits down on the wall surrounding the courtyard and swings his feet; gently grazing the ground, moving in time with the second hand on the clock.

The minutes slowly pass by. 50 minutes. 55 minutes. Then, an hour and Blaine huffs and pulls his robes tighter around him, trying to warm himself up as the wind picks up in the cool summer afternoon.

"Cold?" A voice asks, sitting down next to Blaine.

"It's gettting a bit chilly, is all," Blaine replies, looking up to find none other than Sebastian Smythe next to him; a fourth year chaser on the Slytherin quidditch team.

"So what are you doing here alone and not with all of your friends in Hogsmeade?"

"I'm waiting for K- someone," Blaine says.

"Stood up?" Sebastian asks, smirking.

"No, no. He's just been pretty busy lately, that's all." A shiver runs through Blaine's body, making him shudder. Sebastian moves closer and puts an arm around Blaine, "What are you doing?" Blaine asks, confused.

"Just trying to keep a friend warm," Sebastian says.

Blaine looks up at the clock to see the time, but when he turns his head, he is met with Sebastian’s lips. Cold and rough, Sebastian presses in tighter and Blaine doesn’t pull away.

It’s so different from Kurt, who is soft and gentle and so loving. But it’s not _bad,_ well, that is until Sebastian tries to press his tongue into Blaine’s mouth.

Pulling away quickly, Blaine gets up and stares at Sebastian in shock “What the hell?”

Sebastian just smirks and wipes the corner of his mouth with a thumb “What?”

 

 

“I have a boyfriend!” Blaine hisses “I can’t- You can’t just _kiss_ people without warning. God, just leave me alone,” Blaine says, storming off in the general direction of Hogsmeade. He pulls his cloak tight around his body, trying to keep in the warmth. Tears gather in his eyes, blurring his vision slightly but he wipes them away angrily before they can fall.

 _Who does he think he is?_ Blaine thinks, _First Karofsky and now Smythe._ Then he pauses for a second, _How am I going to tell Kurt?_

 

*

 

When Blaine gets back to the castle, after his brief trip to Hogsmeade; going to the clearing in the small woods in Hogsmeade, empty of all flowers as the clouds shielded the sun from shining upon them.

His hands and arms are covered in scratches from the prickly bushes around the clearing but Blaine doesn’t care. He can hear everyone in the hall, laughing and chattering. But before Blaine can go to the kitchens to grab some food, he hears Cooper behind him. 

“Hey, Squirt,” Cooper says, voice serious for once and that in itself makes Blaine turn around to face his brother.

“What? I just want to go to bed.”

“I just got a letter from Mum and Dad,” Cooper says, a sad look on his face.

“What’s happened?” Blaine asks frantically.

“Nana is at St.Mungos.”

Blaine feels all of the air leave his lungs.

“W-what?” He asks hoarsely, “What happened?”

“No one really knows; she was tending to her plants and Granddad found her unconscious when he got home from work.”

“Oh god,” Blaine says, breathing quickly “Is she okay?”

“She’s not conscious at the moment, but she should be awake by Friday latest,” Cooper says, stepping forward and drawing Blaine into a hug “It’s gonna be okay, Blainers.” Cooper runs his thumb over the back of Blaine’s neck, in a soothing motion “As soon as lessons are over tomorrow, we’ll floo to London, okay?”

Blaine just nods his head and pulls away from the hug, eyes red “I’m just gonna go to bed.”

“Okay, squirt. Come find me if you need anything, even if I’m in the middle of a lesson or whatever.”

“I will,” he whispers before turning back and going back to the common room and straight to bed.

And when Sam comes to find him hours later, he pretends to be asleep and doesn’t reply to Sam’s questions. He’s still awake when all of the boys finally settle down to bed, just staring at the top of his four poster bed.

 

*

 

The next morning at breakfast, Blaine barely eats anything. When Cooper walks past he puts a hand on Blaine’s shoulder for a split second and Blaine looks up at him, giving a small smile.

Brittany asks how his day was at Hogsmeade yesterday and Blaine feels his resolve snap. He stumbles to his feet, muttering apologies to Sam and Brittany, who are staring at him in confusion, and runs out of the hall before they see the tears flowing from his eyes.

“Blaine?” A voice calls from the entrance to The Great Hall and Blaine recognises it immediately. But he doesn’t turn back, doesn’t want to talk to him. Not just yet. He heads straight to Cooper’s office, glad to find it unlocked - Cooper is much too trusting - and lays down on the sofa there.

He tries to control the tears but gives up when the sleeves of his robes begin to get stained with tears. He sniffles as he cries silently.

Eventually, he falls asleep on the sofa, finally resting after his sleepless night of tossing and turning under his covers.

 

_{an interlude with Professors Cooper Anderson and Sue Sylvester}_

 

When Cooper sees Blaine run out of breakfast it’s just as he’s explaining to Sue about their situation.

“Shit,” He says, running a hand through his hair “I should go after him.”

“No,” Sue says “He ran out of here, did he not? That obviously means he wants to be alone. So you should leave him alone.”

Taking Sue’s advice, Cooper carries on eating his breakfast, hoping that his little brother is okay and he has someone at least.

But when Cooper returns to office at break that day, he finds Blaine asleep on the sofa in the corner of his office and sighs. Cooper noticed the bags under his eyes this morning so he decides to let Blaine sleep - grabbing a blanket he throws it over Blaine, hoping that he would be more comfortable.

 

*

 

They don’t get back to Hogwarts until Thursday that week, missing 4 days of school, but honestly, Blaine really couldn’t care less. He’d only left because his Nana had woken up the previous day and all but forced him to go back to school, saying that “He shouldn’t waste his education on an old woman like her.” So Cooper packs his stuff back up for him and they travel by floo back to Hogwarts.

The moment he enters the Hufflepuff common room, Blaine is bombarded with questions.

“Where have you been?”

“I heard that you got cursed and had to be taken care of at St.Mungos.”

“Well, I heard that you got attacked by _another_ magical creature.”

“Dude! What the hell is going on?” Blaine finally hears Sam’s voice amongst the crowd and grabs his arm and pulls him in for a hug.

Sam pats his back, holding him tight and murmurs into Blaine’s ear, “C’mon. Let’s go up to our dorm.”

Blaine nods his head and follows Blaine up the stairs, leaving behind a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs.

The moment the door closes behind him, Sam turns to Blaine who’s now sitting on the edge of his bed “Hey, you okay?”

Blaine just shrugs his shoulders and looks up at Sam with wide, terrified eyes.

“What happened?”

Blaine twists his fingers in his robes before answering in a hoarse whisper “My Nana is at St Mungo’s.”

“Oh, dude,” Sam says, sitting down next to him and putting an arm around his shoulders “Is she gonna be okay?”

“They think so - well, she’s awake now anyway,” Blaine says, rubbing his eyes harshly, then laughs, “She told me to come back or she’d kick me out and make me come back herself.”

Sam just hugs him closer “It’s going to be okay,” he soothes.

Blaine takes deep breaths, calming himself down as he revels in the comfort of his best friend.

 

*

 

Just as he’s about to enter the Great Hall the next day, Blaine feels himself being pulled aside by Kurt.

“Where the hell have you been?!” Kurt asks “I’ve been so _worried,_ Blaine. Neither Sam or Brittany knew where you were and all Figgins wouldn’t tell us was that you had been taken out of school for a family emergency. God - I just - are you okay?”

Blaine nods his head before letting Kurt hold his face and run his thumbs over Blaine’s cheek bones.

“I’m fine,” Blaine says “Nana’s at St.Mungo’s and I was so worried about her. I’m sorry I made you upset.”

“No, no, no,” Kurt says, kissing Blaine’s cheek, “I’m just glad you’re okay. Is she going to be okay?”

“Yeah, she’s awake and threatening me once again, so she’ll pull through just fine,” Blaine says, resting his hands on Kurt’s waist “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, honey,” Kurt presses a kiss to Blaine’s lips, intending it to just be a quick peck, but when Blaine doesn’t pull away they’re soon enough kissing passionately right next to the entrance to The Great Hall.

“Inappropriate behaviour there, little bro!” Cooper calls, as he walks into the hall, smirking at Blaine.

Blaine pulls away from Kurt and laughs, resting his head on Kurt’s shoulder.

Kurt shoves him and says, trying not to laugh, “It’s not funny, Blaine!”

“Whatever,” Blaine replies, kissing him quickly, before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the Hufflepuff table “Eat with me?”

“Do I get a choice?”

“Nope,” Blaine says, resting his hand on Kurt’s knee once they’re sitting down with to Brittany and Sam.

 

*

 

The next few weeks fly past with Kurt stressing out even more during his exam weeks. But this time, he’d sit in the Room of Requirement with Blaine, soft music playing in the background as he revises whilst Blaine massages his back when he wasn’t writing letters to his Nana. She is now out of St Mungo’s and apparently feeling well enough to start treating her plants again. The end of term is looming but Blaine doesn’t think about that, he just enjoys lounging around outside; head in Kurt’s lap as Kurt reads him his mother’s old, rather tatty, muggle books.

Blaine convinces Kurt to go for a swim in the lake with him. Well, Kurt doesn’t exactly agree at first but one day, when Blaine was in there with Sam, Britt and Mike, he beckons Kurt over and leans in to give him a kiss but instead of pressing his lips to Kurt’s, he grabs him by the waist. Hoisting him over his shoulder, Blaine runs back into the lake while Kurt screams with laughter.

“Blaine Devon Anderson! Put me down right now,” Kurt says, trying to be as threatening as he can when all he can see is Blaine’s butt.

Kurt feels Blaine shrug just before he suddenly goes down with a splash into the water.

Blaine is laughing when Kurt comes back up for air, spluttering with his hair flattened and clothes completely soaked. Kurt’s shirt, which he is wearing without a cloak because of the heat, has now gone see-through and Kurt smirks at Blaine as he sees him staring.

“See something you like?” Kurt says, cheekily, swimming towards Blaine and pulls him in for a hug when they meet in the water.

“Mmhmm, of course,” Blaine mumbles into Kurt’s shoulder “You.”

Kurt leans in, kissing him quickly. He crowds closer into Blaine and rests his hand’s on Blaine’s shoulders when all of a sudden he pushes him down into the water.

Blaine splutters for air, certainly not expecting Kurt to do that. When he surfaces, he blinks his eyes of water and sees Kurt laughing and Blaine reluctantly joins in.

 

*

 

“Tell me it isn’t true,” Kurt says, voice strained and eyes filling with tears as he storms up to Blaine in the corridor leading to the Hufflepuff common room.

“Huh?” Blaine says, confused and concerned “Are you okay?”

“Just tell me you didn’t kiss _him_ tell me he’s a filthy liar, Blaine,” Kurt says, almost pleading, “ _Please_.”

Blaine’s eyes widen as he realises what Kurt must be talking about because, oh God, he’d forgotten all about that “You have to let me explain.”

“Oh God,” Kurt says, covering his mouth with his hand, eyes staring in shock “Did this even mean _anything_ to you, Blaine?”

“Wh- Yes! Yes, of course it did, you mean everything to me, Kurt!” Blaine says, stepping forward, trying to grab Kurt’s hand “He’s nothing. I pulled away-”

But Kurt didn’t seem to want to listen “I’m so _stupid,_ ” Kurt says quietly.

“Kurt- please, please just let me explain,” Blaine pleads “You don’t understand.”

“I don’t _understand?_ ” Kurt is almost yelling now “You’re right. I don’t understand how you _cheated_ on me and I only found out weeks later from _Sebastian._ ”

“It didn’t mean anything!” Blaine shouts back, “I was lonely because you stood me up and forgot about our date and I never got an explanation for that. _He_ kissed _me._ Then my nan ended up in St Mungo’s so I forgot all about it.”

Kurt stares at him, shell-shocked and angry, tears falling from his eyes “We’re done.”

“W-what?” Blaine stutters “Come on, Kurt. Don’t do this.”

Kurt just shakes his head at Blaine, eyes full of devastation as he turns around and runs.

 

*

 

Blaine somehow makes it back to his dorm before he breaks down; curling up on his bed as he cries - sobs - until he runs out of tears.

 _This is all my fault_ , Blaine thinks, _If only I’d told him and explained._

Tomorrow, Blaine will be aboard the Hogwarts Express, heading back home for the summer where he will be unable to do anything for Kurt to try and mend their relationship. So instead he lies on his bed for the rest of the day, skipping all of his lessons, alone until Sam and Britt find him and lay down next to him. The three of them cuddle up together, Blaine feels the tears gather once again in his eyes and he’s so grateful that no-one says anything and instead just lay there together.

 

*

 

_{a summer interlude: letters that were written but never sent}_

 

July 15th 2012

Dearest Kurt,

Today I went for a walk through the woods behind my nana’s house and found a small clearing, exactly like that one in Hogsmeade that we visited when you finally became my boyfriend. It make me think of you, of our time spent there amongst the grass and the flowers (I picked one of them from the clearing today and am pressing it for you - I hope you appreciate it).

I miss you so much. I had hoped that we could have met up sometime this summer - you could’ve met my family and maybe I could’ve met your dad but I guess that will never happen now. I broke your heart and if it’s any consolation, mine broke too.

I hope your summer is going well,

~~Yours,~~

Blaine

~

July 20th 2012

Kurt,

I miss you.

Can I say that? Well, I do. A lot. I just want us to go back to how we were before all of this, before the arguments and before the distance.

I just really, really miss you.

Why wouldn’t you just let me explain? He doesn’t mean ANYTHING to me. I promise. He never has.

I’m sorry, Kurt. I’m so sorry.

Blaine

~

July 25th 2012

Kurt,

Nana asked when she’d be meeting you today and I hated that I had to tell her that she might never.

You ~~were~~ are a huge part of my life, Kurt. I don’t know what I’d have done without you this year. Not with everything going on with Karofsky, or my failing DADA grades or even just living.

How was I living without you in my life?

I want to be able to breathe properly again, Kurt.

Blaine

~

July 31st 2012

 

I just want my best friend back.

~

August 7th 2012

Kurt,

I’m staying round Sam’s place for the week, so if you write me - who am I kidding of course you won’t.

Hopefully this will help me move on?

I don’t think I want to move on from you though, Kurt. Not yet. I’m not ready to let go. But if you are, all I want is for you to be happy. So you do that, you should go out and be happy.

Cooper’s calling me now for dinner so I have to go. I’ll write again soon.

Blaine.

~

August 16th 2012

Kurt,

I realised a few things this week with Sam:

Number I - When left without house-elves, Sam’s room gets extraordinarily messy.

Number 2 - I love my best friend. He managed to get my mind off of everything that happened and I had a great week.

Number 3 - I need to get over myself and stop wallowing. I need to get out and spend time with Nana in her greenhouse and go on walks with my mum and (attempt to) play quidditch with my dad and Coop.

Number 4 - As much as I may miss you, for my own sake, I need to leave and do stuff. I’m meeting up with Britt next week and I have no idea what she’s planning for us, but I’m sure it’ll be fun.

Blaine

~

August 20th 2012

Cooper told me to write down everything I’m feeling right now so here goes.

~~I hate you.~~

Actually, I hate that you make me feel this way.

I hate that you wouldn’t give me a chance.

I hate that this even happened.

I hate that everyone expects me to be over this - except maybe Nana.

I hate that I’m not seeing you.

I hate that I don’t know what you’re doing and if you’re happy. I’d hate for you to be unhappy because of me.

But I think that this time apart is doing me some good. That maybe I can finally figure out my feelings like I know I wouldn’t do if we were at school. Like how we never really sorted out all our other little arguments. We just had (great) make-up sex and pretended that it didn’t happen. But it did. And I think maybe that’s where things started to go wrong.

We didn’t listen to each other. We were too caught up in our own feelings that we didn’t take the time to hear what the other had to say. Maybe you don’t agree, but deep down, this is what I know happened.

I still believe that we can fix this. That we can sort everything out.

~~This doesn’t mean I stopped loving you.~~

Blaine

~

August 31st 2012

Kurt,

You never gave me a chance to explain. So here it is:

It was a few weeks before your exams - the last Hogsmeade visit of the year - remember how we planned to spend the day in our little woods, well, I did. Just without you there.

When I was waiting for you - for an hour - Sebastian came over and sat next to me and then suddenly we were kissing. I don’t really know how it happened. It did. And maybe I enjoyed it for a second, but it wasn’t _you,_ Kurt. So I pulled away and told him to leave me alone. And spent the rest of the day alone in the clearing.

Then Cooper found me later that evening and told me about Nana and I just went straight to bed - the kiss completely vanished from my mind because it just _wasn’t_ important or special like all of our kisses.

I’m sorry I know I shouldn’t have let it even happen, but it did and there’s nothing I can do to change that.

Just know that I regret it so much and that I want you to understand. So that you can forgive me and that we can start us again.

This summer, I’ve realised that I don’t need you like I thought I did. I don’t need you to survive. I can live without you.

I don’t want to, Kurt.

I want you back, as my best friend and lover. I miss everything about you, even the things that you hate.

We’re going back to Hogwarts tomorrow and I hope that I get the chance to talk to you. I’ve kept all of these letters that I’ve written over the summer and maybe one day you’ll get the chance to read them - understand how I feel.

I love you, Kurt Elizabeth Hummel.

Yours,

Blaine Devon Anderson

 

v. Courage

 

“Stop it,” Sam says, punching Blaine’s arm causing him to turn around from where he’s looking over the heads of everyone on the platform.

“Stop what?” Blaine replies, rubbing his arm, frowning.

“Looking for _him._ Just stop it, okay, man? You’ll see him soon enough, you can’t expect to see him the moment you’re in the same vicinity.”

Blaine just sighs in response. Staring at smoke unfurling from the chimney of the Hogwarts Express, Blaine steps onto the train, waving at his parents as they stand on the platform, smiling at him.

Blaine hears Sam close the door behind them, just as the clock strikes 11. They both give one last wave out of the window before making their way down the corridor. Blaine turns so that he’s walking backwards and smirks at Sam.

“So, who is she?”

“Who’s who?” Sam replies, innocently.

“The girl you’ve been rambling on about in your letters!”

Sam blushes and Blaine laughs at him, “She’s just this girl - oh this one looks empty, let’s go here - I’ve known her for a while...”

Blaine opens the door to the compartment - not looking inside and still walking backwards “Ohh! Do I know her? Is she cute? Oh my god is it- what?” Blaine asks, seeing the expression on Sam’s face.

“Uh-” Sam says and points behind him. Blaine turns to find no one other than Kurt Hummel sitting in the corner by the window, a slightly shocked look on his face. Blaine catches his eyes and they stare at each other.

 “I’m just gonna, uh, go... I’ll find a compartment...” Sam says awkwardly before promptly leaving the compartment.

“Hey,” Blaine says softly, avoiding Kurt’s gaze.

“Hi,” Kurt replies, twisting his fingers together, the tension growing between them.

“Kurt,” Blaine says quietly, his voice breaking at the end “Can- can we talk?”

Kurt stares at his feet and shrugs “Rachel’s supposed to be meeting me here soon.”

“That wasn’t an answer,” Blaine says, taking a seat opposite him, hands resting on his knees. Blaine uncertainly looks Kurt in the eyes, “Kurt-”

“I- Blaine, I want to, okay? But Rachel’s meeting me back here so we can go back to the Prefect Compartment. I _can’t_ talk to you right now,” Kurt says and Blaine can see his throat move as he swallows down his feelings.

“Oh,” Blaine says, forgetting all about Kurt’s prefect duties.

“Sorry,” Kurt says, shrugging as he looks genuinely disappointed.

Blaine opens his bag and pulls out a wad of envelopes “Just- will you read these for me? I- um, meet me after the feast tonight? Astronomy Tower at, uh, 11?”

Kurt’s eyes widen as he flicks through the papers he just took from Blaine’s hands. Each one is addressed to the same person, in the same scrawly handwriting, he nods slowly before whispering, “Yeah, yes. Okay.”

Getting up to leave, Blaine picks his bag back up and heads towards the door. But before he gets to the door, there’s a hand grabbing at his causing Blaine to turn back around.

“I- I’ve missed you, Blaine,” Kurt says, his eyes overly bright as tears begin to build.

Blaine smiles sadly back at him “I’ve missed you too, Kurt.”

He turns back and leaves the compartment, not looking back because he knows that if he does, he won’t look away.

 

*

 

Blaine spends the rest of the train journey in a compartment with Sam and Brittany. They have a few rounds of exploding snap but Blaine loses every time and leaves Sam and Britt to play without him. Blaine just sits there, wondering if Kurt’s read the letters yet - what does he think? Will he forgive him?

Jiggling his knees Sam tells him to calm down, but Blaine ignores him and tells himself that it’s going to be okay. Tries to pretend that it already is.

Blaine falls asleep halfway through the journey and Brittany tucks her blanket around his body and Sam thanks to God that he doesn’t have to put up with Blaine’s worrying anymore. The two of them put the cards away and instead they just chat about everything and nothing all at once.

 

*

 

By the time Blaine’s slipping into a hoodie over his pyjamas, getting ready to head up to the astronomy tower, he’s much calmer. The Welcoming Feast had helped a lot; seeing all of his friends back together again - being back at his second home - has helped soothe his nerves. Every time he looked up and accidentally caught Kurt’s eye he got a smile in return which just made the butterflies in his stomach flutter even more.

He sneaks around the castle, smiling at the familiar paintings on the walls and the coolness of the empty corridors. He manages to get to the Astronomy Tower undetected and when he gets there he finds Kurt sitting in the middle of the floor, papers – letters - scattered around him. He’s hunched over himself as he grips one piece of parchment in his hands and when he hears Blaine’s presence he doesn’t even look up.

So Blaine just sits down next to him, staring down at the words around him, staying there in silence.

“I didn’t know,” Kurt whispers, his voice wavering slightly before repeating himself “I didn’t _know._ ”

“I know, Kurt,” Blaine replies, shooting a small, sad smile at Kurt.

“Blaine,” Kurt says, his voice stronger as he leans over and rests his fingers on Blaine’s jaw, looking him straight in the eyes “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry too, Kurt,” Blaine says, eyes shining in the moonlight “I think- I think it was a long time coming.”

“I know,” Kurt replies “We- we were barely talking, we didn’t have any dates. We barely ate meals together. I- I just, I think I was too scared to talk to you about anything. I didn’t want to scare you off. You- you’re my first boyfriend, Blaine. I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

He lets out a shaky laugh “I find it _so_ hard to trust people, Blaine. I never let anyone into my life without being overly cautious and it takes so long for me to even give them a tiny bit of trust. But with you - with you it was so easy to let you into my life. I didn’t even think about it, you just waltzed in with your bright smiles and goofy antics and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get out.

“I think that’s why I took it so hard. I’m not making excuses - I want you to know that - I want you to understand. Thinking of you, being with someone else, it _hurts,_ Blaine. As soon as you told me what I already knew, hearing it from your lips, I didn’t want to hear anything else. I was angry and upset and Blaine, you _should_ have told me but I think I understand now.”

Blaine is blinking back tears as he says, “I know. I’m so sorry,” Blaine grips Kurt’s hand in his, carrying on “I think the summer did me good, being away from you. Not in an ‘I want to get away from you’ way,” he adds quickly, “But in a ‘it helped me sort my head out’ way.  I know what I want, Kurt. I want to spend my forever with you.”

Looking up, Blaine sees Kurt smiling bashfully at him, eyes shining with tears “I love you so much.” Before Blaine gets a chance to say anything back, Kurt is surging forward, pressing his lips to Kurt’s - melding them together so they become one. Blaine can feel his heartbeat drumming out of his chest as he kisses him back.

Pulling away only far enough so that their foreheads are still touching, Blaine whispers back, “I love you, too.”

There they sit, scattered around numerous letters written when Blaine felt like he was lost but now.  Now he knows that that is no longer him. He’s no longer searching or trying to find somewhere to belong like he was a year ago - he feels like he’s finally found himself. He doesn’t _need_ all those qualities to be a Hufflepuff - he just needs to be himself. It doesn’t matter what he’s like or what a hat tells him he should be like.

Snuggling up with Kurt underneath the stars, Blaine knows that who he is is good enough and he knows that whatever happens next, he’ll do everything he can to have Kurt by his side. 


End file.
